Post-Apocalyptic

The Post-Apocalypse sub-genre gives writers an opportunity to speculate as to what would happen if the world were recreated. Usually, there's some twist in the ecology, inhabitants or governance of the new world; a side-effect of the catastrophe. Frequently, the resulting earth is dystopic in nature with society having collapsed, but just as often it's pretty much empty. It's an excellent area of speculative fiction to collect in with a wide range of titles available, and many that haven't perhaps yet been classified as such. The genre is as old as literature, with stories from the Bible like the story of Noah, and epics such as Gilgamesh, providing a basic outline. Recent titles such as Ballard's Drowned World, George Stewart's Earth Abides and Stephen King's The Stand are all excellent examples.